Tag Archive cyber security

Facebook is reportedly looking to acquire a major cyber security firm following a massive breach that compromised data from 30 million accounts.

The company has approached several unnamed cyber security providers about potential acquisitions, according to The Information.

Facebook’s push to ramp up its security comes in the wake of what it termed its biggest cyber security breach ever that affected user phone numbers, email addresses and recent searches.

The social media giant, after a preliminary review, says the hack was likely carried out by spammers, according to the Wall Street Journal, not a state-sponsored attack as some had feared.

The hackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in the platform’s “View As” feature that lets users see what their profile looks like to other users, depending on their privacy settings. The hackers were able to gain access codes to user accounts without having their passwords.

Facebook has said that it’s working with the FBI about the breach.

The hack came after a difficult year of setbacks for Facebook, starting with revelations that Russian trolls had manipulated its platform in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Facebook hit a nadir during the Cambridge Analytica scandal when it was revealed that the British research firm improperly obtained user data from 87 million Facebook accounts which were then allegedly used for voter suppression efforts and other election-related actions.